EAT LIKE A KING

EAT LIKE A KING FOR A WEEK

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SUNDAY

I'd like to tell you BIG OAK DRIVE-IN (in Salter Path) is the first place we went while on vacation at Atlantic Beach. Actually, it's the second place we went.  

Our first stop was the FOOD LION where Reidsville Mayor James Festerman was thrown out and the police had to be called to tell him to never again return to FOOD LION.

We don't know this for a fact, but we've heard beer and steaks were involved. To get the straight of it, you might want to ask Mayor Festerman about it.  I'm sure he will be happy to talk about it.

I just discovered the Atlantic Beach Police Station is just a stone's throw from the FOOD LION.  It was very easy for the police to answer FOOD LION's call for help when Festerman returned and was not welcome.  Anyway, we always like to pay homage to one of Festerman's former hangouts.

By the way, if you decide to pay homage at the Atlantic Beach Food Lion, be sure to notice the EXPRESS LANE sign.  It says "About 12 Items".  Not more, not less, but "about 12 items" are allowed in the EXPRESS LANE.

Debbie enjoyed the traditional tailgate event at BIG OAK.  There are no tables and chairs unless you bring your own.  Debbie sat on the tailgate and I sat in a new beach chair she had purchased for me.  Our food was seated on the tailgate beside her.

Debbie had the standard shrimpburger (pictured on the right).  BIG OAK is world famous for its shrimpburger. I decided to go a bit more exotic.  I had wanted a scallop burger, but they were all sold out of scallops.

I ordered a softshell crab burger.  I've never had a softshell crab burger.  I decided to give it a whirl.

Here you can see my burger stuffing trying to crawl out of the bun.  The little legs are just hanging over the edge of BIG OAK's softshell crab burger.

I love softshell crab, but I can't recommend BIG OAK's softshell crab burger.  The taste was a bit off.  Maybe it was the ketchup.  All of BIG OAK's burgers come with tartar sauce, ketchup and slaw standard unless you tell them otherwise.  I didn't and I regretted it.  Ketchup doesn't belong on crab. The softshell crab burger cost $9.95 and it was damned tiny little crab.  Ouch!

Debbie took the safe way out and ordered the onion rings.  We both agreed the rings were very good.

Again I went the more exotic route and ordered fried pickles.  Debbie liked them, I didn't.  She preferred the pickle sticks and I like the pickle chips.  That's bleu cheese dressing she's dipping her fried pickle into.

Notice the Roland's Barbecue cup in the third photograph.  That's what my Pepsi was served in.  Roland's is a BBQ place in Beaufort.  I have no idea why BIG OAK put's its Pepsi in a Roland's cup.

NOTE:  Many hours later I turned my Pepsi cup around.  On the reverse side, it said BIG OAK Drive-In and Bar-B-Q.  Apparently, there is a business connection between BIG OAK and ROLAND's.  Doh!

MONDAY



A smiling Debbie salutes the camera on the porch at our Atlantic Beach place.  Notice the cup in her hand.  The smile may be caused by the cup.  She knows something that I didn't.



For many weeks, I had paid almost no attention to what I thought was an ordinary cup from which Debbie had been drinking.  I learned today it was a cup she had brought back from her recent visit to Texas.  Moreover, I also learned it is a sippy cup.  Debbie has been drinking her wine from a sippy cup.  Notice the clear lid has a hole on the upper right side.  You can ignore the blue cozy into which her sippy cup has been inserted in the salute photo.

I tried out her sippy cup.  I was not impressed with the experience.

So much for the 50+ wine glasses stored in our upstairs and the dozen or so glasses in the kitchen cabinet at the beach.  Put your wine into a sippy cup and you won't ever have to worry about staining your top.



These are some of the biggest shrimp that I've ever seen.  Debbie bought 5 lbs from a man selling them from a beat-up blue Jeep parked on the left side of Highway 70.

I was assigned the task of peeling and beheading about a pound of them for dinner.  I suppose we're going to be eating a lot of shrimp during our vacation.  It's a good thing that we like shrimp.

Debbie deveined the shrimp and declared she had found roe in a couple of them.  I'm not sure what shrimp roe look like, so I'll just take her word for it.  We'll just have to live with the fear that she aborted a couple of shrimp for our dinner.  The mothers were obviously already dead, but there's still that lingering controversy.



This is what became of the pound of shrimp that I cleaned. They looked and tasted delicious.

The shrimp were pan cooked with sauvignon blanc wine, red and white onion, garlic, lemon, and spinach.  The shrimp were served over a high-protein pasta and sprinkled with real Parmesan cheese, not the cheap plastic cheese that you buy in a green shaker can.

Debbie has made this dish before with the addition of cream.  She left the cream out of the dish this time.  If you decide to make this dish, DO NOT leave out the cream.   You will regret it if you do not include the cream.

I know you've been plagued with the notion that shrimp is to be served with a white wine.  Nonsense!  Try your shrimp with a petite syrah.  It's a wonderful combination.

Dessert was Chocolate Kahlua Pecan pie.  Debbie liked it.  I didn't. The pie can be found at Friendly Market at 205 Friendly Road.

I did not mention what we had for breakfast and lunch.  There two reasons for the omission: 1) I forgot to put "film" into my camera when breakfast was served.  I did not realize this until the meal had been eaten and all the pictures had been made, or so I thought; and 2) I ate lunch and forgot to take any photos even though the camera was fully loaded.

TUESDAY

Here are yesterday and today's breakfasts.  This time I had "film" in the camera.

Demonstrating how well-conditioned we are by advertising, Debbie called it an Egg McMuffin which means it's an English muffin with egg and Canadian bacon, which wasn't actually made in Canada and it certainly didn't come from McDonald's.  It came from Debbie's fry pan  McMuffin just seems like an easy and natural name to call it.

The McCantaloupe on the side were some of the sweetest I've ever tasted. The McCantaloupe was really McGood.

This is what we ate tonight.  You have little choice when you've made a large investment of your life savings in 5 pounds of super-large shrimp bought from a beat-up blue Jeep on the side of Highway 70.

The dish contained shrimp, potatoes, corn, beef sausage, onions, lemon. crushed red pepper, and a generous serving of Old Bay.  It is often referred as a shrimp boil, but Debbie didn't boil the dish.  She roasted it in a 350-degree oven for about hour.  The shrimp were naturally added last to avoid overcooking them.

It was delicious.  I highly recommend doing your "shrimp boils" this way.  Debbie is a clever chef.  She is really good to have along on a vacation.

Here's the dish laid out on a plate with the red wine again.  I added more Old Bay to the shrimp because that's just the way I am.  There was a delicious brown gravy in the bottom of the serving platter.  Some of it was poured over my shrimp and the rest I sopped up with a lightly browned Asiago Cheese Bread that is not shown in the photo.

This is dessert.  It's crustless coconut pie.  Debbie liked it, I didn't.  A pie without a crust is not even a pie.  I'm not sure what it is.  It's gluten-free.  There's probably a French name for a crustless pie.  I don't speak French, so I can't say for sure.  It came from Mindy's Bakery in Friendly Market.  That's all I can say.

Is there really treasure at the end of a rainbow?  This one formed over the ocean and bent over to the water on the sound side.  A second rainbow formed a little further out in the ocean and ran over to the sound.  Obviously, I did not catch the second rainbow with my camera, but it was there.  Honest, it was.

WEDNESDAY

Nothing starts the day like a large cup of steaming black coffee.  There's no doubt Debbie's coffee comes from Sumatra.  It's good stuff!

Breakfast was pretty standard - McCantaloupe, whole wheat muffin, eggs over easy, and some country sausage kicked up with crushed red pepper.

Here's what you do when you're faced with shitty beach cable TV.  You bring your Amazon FireTV stick from home and hook it to the TV.  The whole works fit into your hand, but it opens a world of viewing possibilities.

On NETFLIX I watched the Ken Burns CIVIL WAR series.  That was a 10-hour, 10-part series.  I also watched the 10-hour  MAKING A MURDERER series.  

You might wonder how I had time to enjoy the sun and surf.  The answer is I didn't.  Like a vampire, I am sensitive to sunlight.   This condition is caused by medication.  Debbie frolicked in the surf and I watched TV and napped.

While avoiding a nasty sunburn, I learned the CIVIL WAR was a terribly horrible event in our country's history.  My great-grandfather fought and was wounded for a lost and foolish cause.  More than 600,000 of our citizens killed each other over the course of four years.  The number killed was more than the combined deaths in all wars in our history.  And make no mistake, 600,000+ people died over slavery, not states' rights.

MAKING A MURDERER was a study of how very wrong our justice system can go.

And, yes, I watched a lot of softcore porn.  Pray for me, please.  Thank you.

I also listened to a lot of music - my Joe Bonamassa station and my Jr. Walker station whenever Debbie was around.  The music was provided by Pandora.

Scallops pan-seared in butter and olive oil were tonight's main course.  Oven baked corn, potatoes, and Asiago cheese bread made a second appearance.  A salad with bleu cheese dressing rounded out the plate.

Tiramisu was served for dessert.  Debbie and I both agreed this was excellent.

THURSDAY



There was nothing exciting for breakfast today.  It was eggs over-easy with a whole wheat English muffin and plastic bacon.

This was a typical lunch.  Lunch was often a piece of fried chicken and a sandwich.  In this case, it was a leftover scallop sandwich.  Old Bay seasoned the fried chicken.  I love Old Bay.  I believe I could eat it on ice cream.

You can tell Debbie was not involved in the preparation of lunch.

A very nicely browned Debbie toasts herself for making another grand dinner.  She had good reason to smile.

This is the reason Debbie was smiling.  It's our dinner.  A ribeye steak was smothered in a sauce made of butter, garlic, sauvignon blanc, cream, Parmesan cheese, and shrimp.  A substantial portion of our life savings went into this dish, but there's some more shrimp still in the freezer.

I wonder how the shrimp remains will be used.  I'm hoping the shrimp finds its way into a breakfast egg dish.  I doubt Debbie will go there - too kinky for her.

Debbie didn't much care for the ribeye.  She thought it not as good as the steaks she's been buying at Chuck's in Danville.  I disagreed - the steak was fine and the sauce and shrimp were excellent.

Here's where I should mention something Debbie did while I had my back turned.  She purchased another week's vacation in September at the same location.  That week went for $1000 - one time, one shot.  She then met someone on the elevator and permanently bought his week in mid-March for $1.  Look for her book, Art of the Deal, by Debbie Todd Moore to learn how you can become fabulously wealthy by speculating in timeshares. 

FRIDAY

My wish was granted.  Debbie made scrambled eggs with shrimp for Friday's breakfast.  The combination was pretty tasty.  Of course, I had to add Old Bay.

I read on the Old Bay tin that it's been made with the "Same great taste for over 75 years".  This makes me wonder why no one has attempted to imitate Old Bay, at least I don't know of an Old Bay knockoff.  There's plenty of boils out there, but nothing that tastes like Old Bay.  The recipe seems simple enough.  I smell another opportunity for financial bliss.  When these timeshares pay off, I'm going to look at investing in an Old Bay substitute.

Debbie has gone shopping to buy a case of wine and get lawyered up for the March timeshare.  She is, of course, also going to the grocery store.

The plan tonight is to eat at AMOS MOSQUITOS.  We're considering the Baked Oysters appetizer and I'm looking at a repeat of last year's Lump Crabcakes with Corn and Scallions.  I'm guessing Debbie will repeat Shrimp and Grits because she's been talking about shrimp and grits all week.

This is the line at 5 PM at Amos Mosquitos.  The restaurant opens at 5 PM.  Actually, it's a few minutes before 5 PM and people are already waiting at "SKEETERS" front door.  There was a line behind me, too.

This is Amos Mosquito's owner.  He is logging in customer requests for a table.  He recorded your name and number of guests and issued you an electronic blinker to let you know when your table was ready.

We had to wait in line for about 10 minutes and then another 15 minutes with a blinker on standby.  About half of the blinker waiting was done standing up.  Finally, some folks were blinked in and we took their seats to wait some more.

Considering the crowd of people, I thought the 25-minute wait was pretty short.  Very soon after taking our seats for the second wait period we heard the owner telling customers the wait would be up to 1-1/2 hours.

When we left the restaurant, Debbie learned the owner's mother is from Stoneville.

This is Sassy.  You may remember we had Sweetie for a waitress last year.  Like Sweetie, Sassy was bubbly and full of personality.  Debbie thought she recognized a Virginia accent when Sassy introduced herself.  It turns out Debbie was right.  Sassy was from Ahoskie which is in North Carolina, but very near the Virginia border.  Move Reidsville four hours east and you're in Ahoskie.    Sassy has lived at Atlantic Beach for 10 years and loves the place.  She couldn't say enough about how much she likes the people in Atlantic Beach.  Apparently, she's never met James Festerman.

Notice the pens in Sassy's shirt pocket.  This woman was prepared for anything.

Debbie digs in the bread bucket for a sampling.  She found slices of French bread, cornbread, and a spicy cracker.  The spicy cracker gave me pause.  It had quite a punch for a cracker.

This is the cornbread with butter on the top.  It contained bits of scallions.  Debbie liked it so much she ordered a second serving of the cornbread.  It was good cornbread - something I've never really liked.

Now things are getting serious.  This is our baked oyster appetizer.  It was six oysters topped with bacon, spinach, and Parmesan and cream cheeses.  These were quite good for a month without an "r" in the date.  Debbie's been telling me you can't buy oysters unless there's an "r" in the month.  Well, Amos Mosquitos somehow figured a place to buy its oysters.  These were so good Debbie said she could have made an entire meal of just the oyster platter.  Too bad she didn't because it would have saved me about $10.

Here's the big boy.  Penne pasta with crab cakes and spinach, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, scallions and a chipotle aioli.  Debbie and I ordered the same dish.  The same dish I had last year.  She decided not to order Shrimp and Grits.

We also were seated at the same table as last year.

There seemed to be a lot more spinach in this year's crab pasta, but otherwise, it was the same dish.  Debbie said last year's spinach was more wilted which meant the spinach was not so obvious to the casual observer.  I disagree.  There was just more spinach this year.

At one time in my life, I believed I could never stand to eat spinach.  I guess I was remembering my mother's cooking.  She could make anything taste horrible.

I have now learned to eat two green things - spinach and zucchini.

I finished my crab pasta, Debbie had to bring her remains home in a box.

Dinner cost about $73, including a nice tip for Sassy.

Amos Mosquitos was another good experience.  I promise I will try a new dish when we return in September.

Note:  The gentle chirp of frogs and mosquitos played through the sound system in the men's and women's restrooms.  Cute.



We visited Crystal Coast Brewing in Atlantic Beach after dinner.  It's kinda like what the brewery in downtown Reidsville wants to be, but Crytal Coast is privately owned and operated.

Last year Crystal Coast Brewing did not exist in Atlantic Beach.  Now it's all new and shiny.  There's a second location in Morehead City.  Things can really happen fast when you don't depend on government handouts.

Crystal Coast serves beer and nothing else.  Well, maybe some snacks and soft drinks for designated drivers, but that's it - no food.  Such a business would not be allowed in Reidsville, at least that's what the Reidsville Police Department and the Planning Department repeatedly told me.

If you serve beer, then you must serve food if you're in the Reidsville downtown area.  The state ABC people told me that was bullshit, According to the state Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Reidsville has never even discussed alcohol since prohibition was repealed in 1933.  But, that didn't stop the Reidsville cops from harassing the hell out of me.

I hope the new Lucky City brewery if it ever opens, doesn't have to put up with that kind of Reidsville bullshit.

SATURDAY

First, you put water in the pot.  Then you bring the water to a boil.  Then you pour in the grits.  Then you turn down the heat and stir it all around for a bit.

Then you put the peppers, onions, and garlic in the pan and stir them all around.  When the mixture looks cooked, you add the shrimp until they turn pink.

Then you mix it all together in a bowl and add a piece of bread.

Presto, change-o - you've got shrimp and grits.  And you celebrate that Debbie didn't order Shrimp and Grits at Amos Mosquitos last night because her shrimp and grits were the most excellent meal we've had on our vacation.

Bravo for your shrimp and grits, Chef Debbie!

SUNDAY

We're preparing to say goodbye to Atlantic Beach.  There's one final breakfast before we hit the road.

If you decide to go to Atlantic Beach because of what you've read here, don't eat at the Oceanana Pier House Restaurant.  Turn away.  Go somewhere else.  We warned you.  You're much better off taking Debbie with you.

At the Oceanana the eggs were cold, the country ham rubbery, and the grits were flavorless.  What was supposed to be whole wheat toast was actually soggy white semi-toast.  It was the worst meal of our entire trip.

That's all I've got to say about that.

Goodbye until September to the white sands of Atlantic Beach.

MOTHERS DAY OVER THE MOON DUCK

You don't often get awakened from an afternoon nap to find a package at your front door.  A Penske rental truck was pulling away from the house as I plodded to the front to investigate the disturbance.

I was expecting a delivery from DeBragga, but not during my nap time  No one should ever be interrupted from an afternoon nap.  A nap is one of the sweetest benefits of retirement

The delivery was a Mothers' Day surprise for the closest thing I have to a mother - my wife, Debbie

I decided to stash the box in the refrigerator.  It did indicate that it was perishable.  

It was three days before Mothers' Day, but I knew Debbie was all booked up for the weekend, as she is almost every weekend.  Friday was Reidsville's Cruise-In.  Saturday was Eden's Oink and Ale.  Sunday was dinner at our daughter's house.  Thursday would have to be our time.

When Debbie opened the frig and revealed the DeBragga box, she asked, "What is it?"  

I said, "Open it and see."

SURPRISE!

She sliced open the box to discover one of her favorite treats.  Something she often orders in a restaurant (when there is an opportunity) because you certainly can't buy it in a grocery store.

Ignore the Cheerios. They were my breakfast.

DUCK LEG COMFIT already seasoned and cooked.  All you have to do is put them into a 225-degree oven for about 30 minutes to warm them up and then crisp up the skin in a hot pan for a few minutes.  Comfit means cooked in its own fat, in case you were wondering.

The package contained six duck legs.  She fixed them all.

The DeBragga seasoning was garlic, shallots, salt, sugar and 11 secret herbs and spices.

I can't imagine why duck is not available in our grocery stores.  It's much better than chicken and probably doesn't cost that much more to raise.  Such is the peculiarity of living on the dark side of the moon.

Ordering it from DeBragga is damned expensive because they cook it and overnight ship it to just about anywhere in the USA.  The shipping costs almost as much as the duck.

Debbie slips the duck legs into her Wolfgang Puck convection oven for the warming process.  I recommend the Wolfgang Puck oven because it does about everything and does it well, including making toast and warming duck legs.

Here are the duck legs after warming.  They don't look particularly appealing at this stage.

Here four of the six legs have been placed in a skillet for crisping.  They look a lot better after a few minutes in the pan.

Here's the finished product.  That's my plate - two duck legs, a salad with Thousand Island dressing, and roasted baby potatoes.

I usually salt my meats with Richard's Seasoning, but not this time.  I guessed the legs would be good without any added salt.

I was right.

Debbie gave our dinner a thumbs-up and a smile with a mouthful of duck.

Debbie could only eat one leg.  She had a different salad of her own making and the potatoes.

We both enjoyed a glass of California SINFUL GRIN petite syrah from Lidl grocery in Danville.

We had three duck legs leftover.  I was challenged to figure a way to use them.  I'm thinking we should eat them with a salad, baby potatoes, and a petite syrah.

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY, DEBBIE MOORE AND ALL THE OTHER MOTHERS IN THE WORLD!

NOTE:  You might want to check out DeBragga.  They actually specialize in beef - including PRIME BEEF.  But, be prepared for sticker shock.  PRIME BEEF ain't cheap.

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BALDWIN BEEF

At the same time I was on Facebook complaining about how hard it is to find a decent cut of beef in Rockingham County, Debbie was in the kitchen cooking up a batch of beef short ribs from BALDWIN BEEF OUTLET.  She discovered BALDWIN on Highway 86 in Yanceyville (in Casewell County) on a recent trip to Danville from Mebane.

She purchased three large meaty ribs and a skirt steak for a taste testing.  At this point, I don't know how they taste, but it's damn near impossible to find beef ribs with a sufficiently large amount of meat on the bones.  Most beef ribs are pretty scrawny.  Beef ribs are usually suitable for a doggie treat, but little else.  BALDWIN'S ribs were the exception.  Not only were they meaty, they were long for a short rib.

The skirt steak is on hold for a day or two.

BALWIN advertises itself as offering only grass fed, antibiotic-free, hormone free, non-GMO CHAROLAIS (Char-lay) beef.   BALDWIN sells much of its beef to WHOLE FOODS, although you can stop by the small shop in Yanceyville or subscribe for home delivery.

I hope all that hype translates to good taste.

Here are the ribs from BALDWIN.  Debbie has floured and browned them and they are waiting to be dipped and braised.  I'm really surprised she did not cook them on the barbecue grill.  She said she was using a recipe she saw on the TODAY show.

The braising consists of cooked onions, celery, carrots, tomato paste and Italian seasoning.

Debbie adds Robert Mondavi Cabernet wine to the braise and then some water to get the right consistency for the ribs.

The ribs are dropped into the pot and the braise is brought up to a boil and then the pot and ribs are put in the oven at 350 degrees for 2-1/2 hours.

Here's the finished product - a BALDWIN beef rib served on polenta (cornmeal mush) with an arugula topping.

The rib was so tender a knife was not needed.  The meat fell away from the bone with practically no effort required from the fork.  It was moist and juicy and the flavor was spot on.   It went well with the polenta.

I can recommend BALDWIN beef ribs, but unfortunately, I still don't know about BALDWIN steak.  There's a BALDWIN skirt steak waiting in the fridge, but I think it's going to take another trip to Caswell County.  I must have a ribeye and a T-bone to be sure about BALDWIN. 

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JOE AND MIMMA'S

Tonight we're celebrating St. Patrick's Day by eating Italian.  We're at JOE AND MIMMA'S in Riverside Shopping Center in Danville.  That's right, we didn't go to Greensboro for dinner.  We went to Danville.

I ate at JOE AND MIMMA'S many decades ago, but I don't remember much about it.  I would say Debbie is much more of a regular there.  Debbie's family often has celebrations there - somebody's birthday or a special occasion.  I'm usually not invited.

It seemed everybody at JOE AND MIMMA'S recognized Debbie and knew her name.  Even small-time TV can make you a star 30 miles away.  No one recognized me.  I'm not looking for sympathy.  I prefer to travel incognito.

Way back in the olden days, I was reminded of an occasion when we (Debbie and I and her friend and husband) ordered a bottle of Sangiovese (wine), but the hostess for the event made it perfectly clear she would not be buying wine for dinner.  I think she was paying for everything else, but there would be no alcohol put on her tab.

Isn't it amazing?  I'm talking years ago, and Debbie remembers what kind of wine we ordered.  Sometimes the woman's memory is scary.

It's odd how Baptists will deny any association with wine, but Jesus not only drank wine, he also made wine.  Debbie (a former Baptist by birth) explained hardcore Baptists believe Jesus drank and made grape juice, not wine.  Baptists take the Bible literally except certain parts that they don't like.  Baptists don't like Jesus drinking wine, so it must have been grape juice.  I personally think Jesus drank coconut milk because that's what my religion tells me to believe.

But, enough about wacky Baptists, let's talk about dinner at JOE AND MIMMA'S.

Once we were able to squeeze in the door, and I do mean squeeze.  There was a throng standing inside the door.  I had to stand outside the door for a bit while the guy in front of me was half in and half out.

It had been years since I had been there, so it was confusing to me.  Everyone seemed to be holding styrofoam boxes or bags and green tickets.  Only much later did I learn these were people waiting to check out with their leftovers in hand.  You could barely get in the restaurant for all the people waiting to leave the restaurant.  I'll tell you more later.

Fortunately, Debbie knew the routine and when she showed up (she was parking the car while I was supposedly getting us a table) she knew what to do.  She plowed through the crowd and found her way to a smaller spot towards the back to register us for a seat.  I saw nothing on JOE AND MIMMA'S website where you could call or register for a reservation

Here's a photo of a board with the evening specials that was taking up valuable space at the overcrowded front door.  I'll try to read it for you: 1) lobster crab cakes in a lemon cream something...maybe frida (?); 2) Chesapeake seafood chowder with oyster, shrimp, cod - crolo(?); 3) grilled marinated mahi-mahi in papaya-pineapple salsa served with Jasmine rice a tempur(?) asparagus; 4) Prosciutto-burrara fat bread; and 5) swiss chalet chocolate mousse cake.

I know the specials sound like instructions to Gort the robot from THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (the 1951 Michael Rennie/Patricia Neal version, not the crappy Keanu Reeves/Jennifer Connelly version), but it's the best I can do.  Klaatu barada nikto!

The sign says it all.  Wait and wait some more and wait some more.  We had arrived at the wrong time on the wrong day.  Apparently, everybody celebrates St, Patrick's Day by eating Italian.

Debbie decided to play Solitaire on her cell phone during the Bataan Death March to the inner sanctum.  Most of the people sitting and standing around us did the same.  I can't say for sure they were playing solitaire, but they were staring and pecking at their cell phones.  Debbie wondered what they did before cell phones were invented.  I suggested maybe they talked to each other.

Here's the salad Debbie made for me.  JOE AND MIMMA'S has a small bar where you make your own salad.  I'm not sure why, but Debbie volunteered to make my salad.  She did a pretty good job except for the four little tomatoes.  I don't like cherry tomatoes.  I don't why, but I don't like them in my salad.  Debbie knows that, but she put them there anyway.  She said she was trying to figure a way to get some vegetables in me.  I did not remind her that tomatoes are fruits, not vegetables.

The dressing is Ranch.  MIMMA makes (or buys) a good Ranch dressing.  The ingredients were fresh and tasty.  It was a simple salad, but very good (except for the damn cherry tomatoes).

Unfortunately, I was not able to completely finish the salad because the meal turned out to be too gargantuan. 

Debbie made a salad for herself which I don't think she was able to finish it either.  Too much food.

I now know why everyone leaving the restaurant seemed to be carrying a box or bag.

I went all out for St, Patrick's Day because I am Irish.  I ordered an Italian beer in a green bottle.  Peroni is made in Italy.  We used to sell Peroni in our store.  I recalled it being very nice.  It still is.  MIMMA'S served it in a frosty mug.  That was a nice touch.  NASTRO AZZURRO means "blue ribbon".  The Peroni went well with my dinner.

OK, there's a couple of things we want to talk about here.  That is Debbie's glass of Chianti in the rear on the left.  It is an unpronounceable Chianti.  It was not very good and was served at or above room temperature, not at 55 degrees or anywhere near that.  Debbie suggested the bottle had been stored next to the pizza oven.  I tasted it.  I think they put the glass of wine in the microwave to knock the room temperature "chill" off it.

Do not order a Chianti that you cannot pronounce at JOE AND MIMMA'S.  You will regret it.

In front of the unpronounceable Chianti is our appetizer.  It is goat cheese, portobello mushrooms, and caramelized onions served on a flat bead.  Doesn't that sound fantastic?  It was delicious! The bread was crunchy and the three toppings were...PERFECTO!  The goat cheese was tangy and stood out above the other ingredients.  We like goat cheese

This single appetizer with our salads, Peroni, and unpronounceable Chianti could have made our entire dinner.  Just forget the entrees and sides that were to come.  But, of course, we forged ahead.  St. Patrick was counting on us.

This is the focaccia bread that was served with our dinner.  It was excellent.  The little bowl of magic sauce for dipping your focaccia was also outstanding.  We asked our waitress (more about her later) what was in the sauce.  Despite working for MIMMA'S for years, she did not know.  Apparently, in all those years no one had ever asked.  Amazing.  

She went to the kitchen to ask about the magic sauce.  She returned to tell us it contained olive oil, dried tomatoes, basil, garlic, and oregano. I don't believe it was even extra virgin olive oil.  The color was too light and the flavor not so "olivey".  Whatever was in it, it was great!

The real mystery was why our waitress did not know what was in the magic sauce.  Debbie said it was because most people are not like me - they don't care what the ingredients are in a dish, even in an outstanding magic sauce.  Oh, well, their loss.

This is the side dish that came with my entree.  I could have chosen pasta with marinara sauce, mixed vegetables, or pasta with meat sauce.  I chose pasta with meat sauce.  Some might call it spaghetti. 

I have made a mess of the dish.  It did not look like what you see here when it was served.  Unfortunately, it tasted like it looked.  The dish was not hot and had little flavor.  Debbie makes spaghetti that is ten times better than what MIMMA served.

If you decide to eat at MIMMA'S, I recommend you try the mixed vegetables as a side.  I don't know what vegetables are included but don't take a chance on the pasta with meat sauce or marinara.

I did not finish the pasta with meat sauce.  It was not worth the effort and what it was doing to the front of my shirt.  I am a messy eater.

Here is my entree.  It is CHICKEN MARSALA.  Marsala is a fortified (higher alcohol content) sweet red wine.  Sweet wine is not my forte, but what the hell.  

I normally order pasta or seafood at an Italian restaurant but decided to go full kinky this time.   I love chicken but rarely order it.  If the world's chicken supply became contaminated with a virus or something icky, I guess I would starve.   I think my love of chicken grew out of eating my Grandmother's fried chicken at her kitchen table when I was a tiny lad.

MIMMA'S chicken Marsala was two breasts fried crispy and served in the wine sauce with mushrooms.  Again the plate did not look like this when it was served.  I made the mess, but this time the dish was excellent.  The wine sauce was only slightly sweet and the mushrooms were perfect with the chicken.  This was a very good dish.  Just don't order the pasta with meat sauce as a side.  You don't need the pasta anyway.  It's just too much food.

Debbie is trying to tip her plate so I can photograph her entree, but her sauce was trying to escape the shallow bowl.  We're in an Italian restaurant, so, of course, she ordered veal.  Debbie is like a broken record when it comes to Italian food.

She wanted VEAL ALLA VALDOSTANA, but MIMMA'S is no longer offering the dish even though it's still listed on their website.  Alla valdostana means served with prosciutto and fontina cheese.  Debbie speculated the dish was too expensive to make.  In reality what she actually got was the same price as the alla valdostana.

Debbie's entree was VEAL PICCATO.   It was served in a lemon butter sauce with seven secret herbs and spices.  I think that's linguine under the veal and lemon slice.  Italians have so many pastas it's hard to know what is what.  Whatever it was, Debbie seemed to like it.

It was good, but not CHICKEN MARSALA good.  I think the VEAL ALLA VALDOSTANA would have been much better.  I seem to recall her bringing some ALLA VALDOSTANA home to me in a styrofoam box.  It is too bad MIMMA'S is no longer offering it.

We reluctantly ordered a dessert.  We really had no room for dessert, but we ordered it to get the big picture.  The sacrifices we make for you people are unbelievable. 

This is PANNA COTTA which means "cooked cream".  A lot of phrases don't translate very well.

PANNA COTTA is a mound of vanilla custard with whipped cream on top.  It is served with blueberries and strawberries.  The sauce is Kirsch brandy.  Kirsch is cherry-flavored alcohol.

It looks heavy, but in fact, it was quite light and tasty.  Debbie was too full to do more than barely taste it, but I "forced" it down.  Debbie said the blueberries were good for me.  I always listen to Debbie, so I had to eat the whole thing.

These are twins Dixie and Debbie.  Dixie was our waitress.  She was very good even if she had the wrong name to be working in a very Italian restaurant.  According to Debbie, Dixie has been at JOE AND MIMMA'S forever.  A Dixie should be working at a diner called EATS.  Dixie should call herself SOFIA when she's at work.  After decades on the job, Dixie finally learned what is in the magic sauce.

By the time Debbie got to the register to check out, most of the throng was gone.  It was agonizing watching the guy at the register.  He had to pull out a calculator when Debbie told him to add 15% for a tip.  He was painfully slow and apparently his credit card machine doesn't print a line for the customer to add whatever amount she wants to tip.  

Debbie said he is MIMMA'S husband.  This is not JOE.  According to Debbie, JOE AND MIMMA are brother and sister.  JOE runs a JOE AND MIMMA'S in Richmond and MIMMA mans the Danville post.  MIMMA was at the Danville location working the kitchen and, yes, MIMMA knew Debbie's name and talked about seeing Debbie on TV.

For the record, we did not leave JOE AND MIMMA'S carrying any boxes or bags.

This is a photo of MIMMA'S wine stock.  I suppose the heating elements are under the bottom of the bottles.

Asked to compare JOE AND MIMMA'S with SALVINO'S, Debbie gave them an even score.  I gave SALVINO'S the edge.  If for no other reason, SALVINO'S doesn't serve its wine from the surface of the sun and I'm guessing the spaghetti is edible.

Note when JOE AND MIMMA'S was crowded, it was still very quiet.  I could have an across-the-table conversation with Debbie with no problem.  Double stars for this feature.

Total cost for our St. Patrick's Day dinner was about $83 with tax and tip.

JOE AND MIMMA'S is recommended.

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NOLA Seafood & Steakhouse

It's been quite a while since you've heard from us.  The log on this blog shows we last visited CAFE PASTA in mid-December.   For two months we have not been spending more and eating better.  We've just been spending.

Debbie had this little matter involving her right thigh and hip.  She had them replaced at a modest cost of $85,524.73.  You read that right $85,000+.   At least that's the bill so far.  Debbie believes there are more bills to come.  But we're not about to let a small medical expense eat into our dining budget.

I am drawn to New Orleans dining or as close as you can get without driving more than 1,000 miles.   I spent some time in Louisiana, went to college in Baton Rouge, and have visited New Orleans a few times.  The food and drink were memorable.  I feel compelled to check out any New Orleans style restaurant.

This time our dining adventure took us to NOLA at 1653 New Garden Road in Greensboro.  NOLA is the abbreviation for New Orleans, Louisiana.

Nothing on the wine and beer menu drew our attention.  We drank water.

The bread was unremarkable.  It was half a loaf with a carving knife.  There was no butter or olive oil.  I tried a slice and left the rest for the busboy.  I eat better bread for breakfast every morning.

This is the appetizer we shared.  It is CRAWFISH NACHOS.  You can't tell it from this photo, but the serving was large enough to easily be an entree.   The nachos were delicious - light and crispy.  The salad and salsa with sour cream in the middle were tasty and very fresh.  The crawfish (on the right and to left) were good but lacked the flavor I was expecting.  I ate all the crawfish and 90 percent of the nachos but left at least half of the salad untouched.  The menu listed this appetizer as "spicy".  It was.

This is Debbie's entree.  Debbie said nothing about the baked potato.  I guess there's not a lot to say about a baked potato. 

 I know it is red, but the other dish on the plate is BLACKENED AHI TUNA.   A slab of tuna is seasoned and blackened on the grill and then sliced.  The fish looks raw, but it was warm in the center with blackened edges  It was delicious, cooked perfectly with the flavor of tuna and the blackening shining through.  This may have been the best dish we were served.  I got a small taste of one piece of tuna.  It was exquisite.  If you are not bothered by the red color,  I recommend the BLACKENED AHI TUNA.  You can choose from a list of sides, so don't let the baked potato bother you.

This is Debbie's other side - a CAESAR SALAD.  She noted the ingredients were very fresh, but she said the salad put up quite a fight to keep from being eaten.  Apparently, the problem was too much salad on a too small plate.  A bowl would have been much better.  She had to transfer pieces of the salad to her tuna plate to get an edge over the salad.

This is my entree with the two sides I have chosen - coleslaw (top center) and french fries (upper right).  There's a small cup of tartar sauce beside the coleslaw and two small cups of Remolaude sauce.   The tartar sauce was very thin and watery, but still tasty.  The Remolaude was also good.  I didn't spend much time with the sauces. 

The coleslaw was supposedly homemade.  I don't know in whose home it was made, but they definitely know the coleslaw arts.   I ate all of the coleslaw.  The fries were good, but nothing extraordinary like the coleslaw.  I left a few fries on the plate.

My main interest was in the lower portion of the plate.  It is the  BLACKENED SEAfOOD TRIO.  On the left side is tilapia,  In the center is alligator bites,  On the right side is catfish.  All three were perfectly seasoned and then blackened.  The NOLA chef knows how to blacken fish.  

I initially picked the alligator as the best.  I thought the alligator gave Debbie's tuna a good race.  But, the more I ate, the closer the competition became.  I'd recommend any of the three as a single entree.

The fish were so good that I ignored the sauces meant to go on them.

Technically only one of the fish was seafood - the tilapia.  The alligator and catfish were from freshwater. 

We really had no room for dessert, but I like to sample a restaurant's full menu from appetizer to dessert.  This is BANANAS FOSTER CHEESECAKE.  I forced myself to eat it.  Debbie would only take one lick of whipped cream off her finger.  

Bananas Foster was invented in New Orleans in 1951.  It seems like you should be able to order Bananas Foster at NOLA, but it was not to be.  NOLA served what I would simply call banana cheesecake.  The cake was served with mounds of whipped cream and rested on swirls of chocolate.  You could see and taste bits of banana in the cake.  There was no flavor of 151 proof rum and banana liqueur.  And there was no ice cream as you find on real bananas foster.

It was very good cheesecake, but bananas foster by name only.

This is Ali.  He was our waiter.  Ali agreed to have a photo made of him, but he was very concerned about how his teeth would look in the photo.  Ali asked to see the photo to decide whether he approved of his teeth.  Ali said his teeth always look "too big" in photos.  Unfortunately, I didn't know how to show him his photo.  He just had to roll the dice on the appearance of his teeth.

What do you think?  Are Ali's teeth too big?

This is a sample of many pieces of art in NOLA.  It was all New Orleans themed - New Orleans musicians, buildings, street people.   It was all beautiful work.

As we were leaving NOLA, we were stopped by the owner who noted we were taking photos.  Our camera always catches attention.  I had to explain we photograph all our meals - there's nothing to fear.

He relaxed and noted we had admired his artwork.  He explained all the paintings were made by a New Orleans artist who was washed out during Hurricane Katrina.  I said I had mistaken some of the paintings as photographs that had been re-touched.  I regret not taking some close-ups of the many paintings.

Debbie and I both rated NOLA higher than NEW ORLEANS BAR AND GRILL

Cost for dinner with tax, tip, title, dealer prep, and handling fees was about $81.00

Here's a map.  Maybe it will help if you feel a hankerin' for New Orleans dining.

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CAFE PASTA - OH, NO, NOT AGAIN!

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We're back at CAFE PASTA.  I will not tell you why.  You will remember our thoughts about the restaurant were mediocre.

This report will be brief as you are probably tired of hearing about CAFE PASTA.  You can read about our July visit by clicking here.  Our November visit can be found here.

I will warn you we may visit there again soon.  If it happens again, I will not explain why we returned.

For a Tuesday night when it was cold and the wind was blowing like hell, the restaurant was fairly busy.  According to soothsayer Debbie, a lot of people were there for company Christmas parties.

The very sweet red sauce shown above was for our bread.  If you're concerned about sugar, beware of this sauce.  It tastes good, but it is very sweet.

Our shared appetizer was CAFE CRABCAKES.  I'm not sure what to say about this appetizer.  The cakes were very light without a heavy crab flavor.  This means there was a lot of bread involved in making the cakes.  They were nicely fried with a thin layer of crispy.  This made for a good appetizer, but it would have made a poor entree.  The tartar sauce was no doubt restaurant-made.  It contained non-identifiable chunks of something that was tasty.  Debbie ate the green stuff and had nothing to say about it.  My view of the green stuff was that it was meant as decoration.  This is the way I feel about most green food.

This is my entree.  It is WILD MUSHROOM RAVIOLI.  The ravioli is hard to see under the red vodka cream sauce.  The ravioli were not fully stuffed.  They were very thin.  The mushroom flavor was lost in the very sweet sauce.  Beware of this sauce, too.  It was sugary.  I'm starting to believe all the red sauce at CAFE PASTA is heavy on the sugar.

If VEAL PICATTA is on the menu, Debbie will order the VEAL PICCATA.  Believe or not, there is actually a piece of veal under the pasta.  She said she would have been satisfied with just the pasta with no veal.  I tasted her dish.  I was not impressed.  There was no identifiable flavor.

Debbie smiles as the pepper piles up on top of her pasta.

About half through dinner we noticed the CAFE PASTA owner handling a large wine glass.  It must have been about three-feet tall.  He decided to place it on the end of the bar in front of a mirror.

As we were leaving, I snapped this photo of Debbie with her hand on the glass.   Because he said he would be filling the glass with wine I asked the owner how many bottles of wine it would hold.  He didn't know but said he would not be putting corks in the glass as was illustrated on the box that he pulled the glass from.

CAFE PASTA's bar features several large cocktail glasses.  They are filled with colored water.  It now has a super large wine glass.

If you like large glassware, CAFE PASTA is recommended.

I received an unexpected $4.00 discount on my $14.95 WILD MUSHROOM RAVIOLI.  Apparently, it was on special that night.  There was no sign indicating any special and no waitress ever said a word about a special.  The only way I knew about the discount was when I received the bill.  I asked the waitress about the $4.00 adjustment and she then explained WILD MUSHROOM RAVIOLI was the special of the evening.

Note everything on CAFE PASTA'S website menu is not available in the restaurant.  I wanted CHICKEN CORDON BLEU BITES for our appetizer.  Our waitress said the CHICKEN CORDON BLEU BITES were no longer offered.  She promised she would tell the owner about the discrepancy.  I am confident she never said a word about the problem to anyone.

Lessons learned:  If you eat at CAFE PASTA, avoid everything with red sauce and always ask what the special is for the evening.